A Shattered Creation

[Volthawk]

The group you are a part of has stuck together in some form - people come and go, but the group as a whole remains - for miles and days. The road you are on is a long one, following the Lesser Rock River - some way back, on the other side of the river, you saw Greyfalls, although it still appeared to be a smouldering ruin, one that the travellers were nervous around even though it seemed empty from what you saw - with few roads branching off, so for a while now the group has stayed at it's current state and size. The group is in relative harmony - although people have their differences, they tend to put it aside for now, given their proximity to Greyfalls - and new friendships and alliances had been formed in the group, with people helping each other and generally getting along well, although when a group of dragon-blooded arrived, not looking particularly as rich and elegant as those of the Realm usually present themselves, people tended to be more cautious around them, not sure of their motives or ideas - the events in the Realm and the rampages of the deathknights had acted to erode the faith some had in the Terrestrials.

However, that harmony was broken abruptly when screams had been heard at the front of the gaggle of people, and some of you closer to the front can see an assorted array of undead, mostly zombies although there are one or two...odd things there. As this happens, you feel death Essence in the air, almost palpatable, the sky darkens, and past some of the trees you see large pillars of ash and smoke. Something big was going on - that was obvious.

[moritheil]

"This dark, early in the day? And is that smoke? Something is not right."

Flashing White Teeth looks over at the disturbance from his place near the back of the caravan, a frown marring his youthful features. Brushing back a lock of dark hair, he focuses intently, running his mind through the exercises that will allow his essence to enhance his perceptions.

OOC: Hearing the Unspoken, 3m personal, 4 ticks to activate.

[Kazyan]

Ygkxi continued to ignore her fellow tribespeople. They had been whispering jovially amongst themselves for a while now, off to her right, talking about nothing in particular. She couldn't get interested in what they were talking about.

Upon noticing a bit of slack in the white sash at her waist, she gently tightened it. All of the dust and dirt on it stood out to her, thought no more than the amount on her sealed robe. The blue and purple at least made it hard to detect for regular people. Ygkxi looked to the monk following behind the three Qaradoccians, silently praying. With one hand, she parted the strands of thin black hair that uniformly covered her face. The monk looked towards her and smiled. Ygkxi smiled back.

At the obscene sound of screaming, she turned towards the front of the congregation. She adjusted her flat hat. The smoke in the sky caught her attention, as she stared for a moment. Finally, she decided that it was bad. After another moment, she realized that it would be good if someone could make it go away, though no actual words crossed her quiet mind.

"-Stay,-" she whispered to her three tribesmen, in Qaradoccian. They responded affirmatively. Ygkxi crept forward, moving from the middle-front of the group towards the front. Her short, stout body bumped only a few people along the way.

[Calimos]

As the sky darkened and necrotic essence saturated the air, Ishiro stirred. The foul stench of death's corrupting influence already pervaded his senses and that was a bad omen. Bad for the safety of all these travellers, bad for Creation. By the name of the Most High, Sol Invictus, he would see that it would be equally bad for any vile creature of darkness that hid behind that as well. The last thought burnt deeply in Ishiro's soul, as he turned to another traveller, who seemed disturbed and frightened, grabbed him by the arm, stared deeply to his eyes and said.

"Go quickly. Alert the Dragon-blooded and tell them to make sure the caravan is kept safe and the people stay together. Something is very wrong here. Go".

Then, he pulled his hood over his head and began walking, seemingly undisturbed by the general commotion, with steady and calculated steps towards the area where the creatures of death could be seen, to get a better and more detailed view of the situation.

[Arcainia]

Scarlet glances upwards to the darkening sky, tipping her hat back slightly out of her view.

"Tch...by the fire tree, of course the dragonblood bring with them bad weather and darkness following in their wake."

Checking her sword is clear in her scabbard, bringing a few inches of shining golden steel forth from the leather and wood depths, she smiles at how easily it slides from it's home.

"Guess I better see whats the trouble..." she grumbles, sliding her sword back into it's scabbard with an audible metallic ting as she starts to jog towards the front lines; startling a few travelers near her with the sudden noise and movement.

[Volthawk]

Strangely, the dead at the front seem to be trying to grab people and drag them off rather than just killing, one of the necrotech abominations - a humanoid with many long tendrils of bone - retreiving the ones the dead capture and moving them into the trees, with some zombies doing the same. The travellers that aren't stunned in fear have been attacking the dead as best they can - the dead seem to not be retaliating, focusing solely on grabbing people and taking them off.

The traveller nods and rushes to the back of the group, where the dragonblooded had been staying.

Teeth senses, past the large crowd - where there are four cases who stand out, two moving to the front and two around the back - someone sitting in the trees, apparently just watching what's going on, not moving. However, looking there, he can't see anyone.

[moritheil]

Teeth stops squinting into the treeline. Checking his sleeves to make sure the varnish covering his bracers still holds - for the glitter of alchemically treated gold could raise very distracting questions among the Dragon-blooded - he looks about for anyone resembling a soldier. His gaze settles on a dark-haired fellow wearing a buckler on one arm and a sword on his belt.

Flashing White Teeth dashes over, stopping suddenly before the man, then leans in slightly, pitching his voice to not carry too far. "Don't look now - but not only are we being attacked, I think we're being watched to see how we react. Excuse my abruptness. How good are you with that sword?" It is likely obvious to anyone watching him, even from a distance, that he is attempting to confer with the man without being overheard by the other nearby travelers.

[Calimos]

Ishiro walks forth, keeping his steady pace, as the situation gradually unveils before his eyes.

"Pull back now", he says, his commanding voice thundering in the night, loud as needed, to be heard by the travellers that try to fend off the undead creatures.

He extrudes a palpable aura of calmness and determination, in contrast with the sudden chaotic events around as he keeps walking, approaching the front ranks, to have a better view of the undead and their apparent superiors, while getting closer to a man looking like a soldier, judging from his apparent gear at least and another who seems to talk in great concern.

[Kazyan]

The stench of decay reaches Ygkxi's nose well before she meets the near-front of the group. With fewer people in the way, she could make out the dead creature dragging people forward. Good--people want to go forward, and the dead things helped. But, the faint sounds of weaponry slicing through bodies indicates a battle. Why did people want to hurt the helpers?

An authoritarian voice, words carrying over the crowd, only confuses her further. She stares at one of the dead things for a moment before a traveler passes in front of her. Ygkxi steps back, then turns and hustles towards the voice, occasionally pushing people out of the way.

Upon reaching the speaker, she looks at the thin bow-wielding man. She peers at him for a moment. Her fists clench, and she raises her hands to chest level. With her equipment stored with the Qaradoccians right now, she doesn't know if she can fight, but people have bows, and weapons...Ygkxi continues staring at the archer blankly, perplexed.

[aetherialDawn]

Arete is staring at the dead things, examining them in as great an amount of detail as he can muster in the few moments he can feel counting down. Each is precious, representing a life lost to delay and hopefully more gained from planning. They'll have to be enough.
He doesn't turn towards the one* speaking to him, still gazing at the foes. His blade seems to simply leap into his rising hand, concurrent with his slightly terse response.
"Very good indeed. Alexia, the ones with prisoners." He doesn't need to add 'careful' - he doesn't know a better archer, yet. Today is already a strange one, though, and there's at least one bow in the group he hasn't yet seen fired, carried by a thin and authoritative man...
"I'll go and try to keep them from carrying off more. If you have a bow and valor, prove yourself with use of them!" His voice carries well in an attempt to quell some confusion (though he is not the first to do so) and is likely somewhat offensive to the quiet monk who has just arrived.
He holds his blade to the sky for a moment to signal his last remark, already charging with buckler held before him.

*Flashing White Teeth
Using Elegant Dance of Bow and Blade to ready my sword, and reflexively activating Panoptic Fusion Discipline with 4 personal motes (+1 to my DVs against physical attacks I am aware of and an automatic 3 Aim dice on each attack I make, because I have just activated Solar Scene Length Bullet-time.) Also, rolling Join Battle. Zombies need to learn that humans aren't even a sometimes food.
For Arete [roll0] 4 Successes
And for Alexia [roll1] No Successes :smallfrown:

And, a reflexive Perception+Awareness check on our foes. Number and types, mainly. [roll2] 1 Success

Gosh, a lot of rolls!
Arete
Personal: 15/19

[Volthawk]

The travellers look back at Ishiro for a moment, and although some obey, others continue to fight back regardless, while the dead still ignore them, even though they have managed to inflict injuries. Arete can see that there are ten remaining, as well as the single necrotech abomination taking them off into the trees.


Rest of you guys roll JB too, if you're going to get involved in the fighting.

[Arcainia]

"Ohhhh.... Necromancy. This should be a fun learning experience..." Scarlet cheerfully says as she get to the front lines of the undead's grab at life.

Join Battle: [roll0]

[Calimos]

The hooded figure stops upon reaching the others. A slight grin appears, in his otherwise grim visage.

In an instant, through a single fluid movement of unparalleled grace too fast for the eye to properly capture, his powerbow was in his deft hands, its orichalcum radiance temporarily dimmed by the sudden darkness. The arrow drawn from the quiver like the commander selects a champion from his army to fight for honour and glory, his eyes fixed on the vile monsters before him, the string pulled back in less than a heartbeat and righteous judgement flew in swift - feathered - wings of vengeance, with unnering precision towards the undead multi-limbed monstrosity.

OOC
Question: How will stunts be handled?

Join Battle roll: [roll0], plus 3 successes from the permanent charm Flashing Vengeance Draw. In addition to that my bow is drawn and readied reflexively. Finally, if my JB roll is the highest, my first attack, following the JB roll, is unexpected (rendering the opponent's DVs inapplicable if I'm not mistaken).

JB roll: 9 successes total

Attack roll: [roll1]
10 successes. If unexpected, they add directly to damage, for a total of 20L raw (pre-soak) damage. Additional rolls in OOC thread.

[Kazyan]

Another voice, this one talking about fighting. Everyone wanted to fight the dead things, even though they helped people go forward. Ygkxi clenched and unclenched her fists, still watching the man with the bow, after his stunningly swift readiness. Her mind settled on the option of retreating from the battles. She lowered her head, and ran back towards the middle of the group.

The three Qaradoccians still chattered with each other voicelessly. She slowed and stopped in front of them, and they greeted her. It felt better to get away from loudness. "-Hi,-" she said back.

Ygkxi raised her hands again, and tapped her forearm. "-Where is the metal?-" she asked. One of the three grinned and took off their backpack, to retrieve the orichalcum gauntlets.

[moritheil]

His warning given, the thin, dark-haired man turns to the more immediate concern of the undead assaulting his fellow travelers. Teeth's incongruously formal, flowing silk tunic and pants shimmer faintly as he dashes to aid the head of the column.

OOC: Join battle 5 wits + 2 charm [roll0][roll1][roll2][roll3][roll4][roll5][roll6]

[Volthawk]

Ishiro's arrow strikes true, hitting the unsuspecting target, but the creature seems more resilient than it appears, as the blow fails to down it, the bone of the creature cracking but not shattering. It does seem to have taken damage, however.

For their part, the dead still ignore the attacks, still grabbing the people they can reach and taking them away. Now, they all have a person, and start walking away, dragging their strugglng victim with them.

However, the dead appear to not be the only presence here loyal to the forces of death. The figure Teeth senses in the tree moves, readying a bow as he becomes partly visible at the top of a tree - a gaunt figure holding a long soulsteel bow.


Well, for stunts, given the medium, 1-dots will be pretty easy to get hold of - really it's pretty easy to assume that you'd get one die. Two-dots are things that are pretty impressive, while three-dots...well, you know them when you see them. Those are the really impressive stunts, y'know?

Right, JB order. Heh, Ishiro got so many successes compared to everyone else...
Arete's next up.
Tick 0: Ishiro
Tick 1:
Tick 2:
Tick 3:
Tick 4:
Tick 5: Dead, Arete
Tick 6: Ishiro, Treetop Archer
Tick 7:
Tick 8: Teeth, Scarlet
Tick 9: Alexia

[Calimos]

Ishiro watched the impact of his arrow on the multi-limbed undead and was almost surprised on the resilience of that creature. He knew he still had heavier hitters on his arsenal, but still the fact that its bones had not crumbled by the sheer force of his shot was quite remarkable.

Then another figure made its appearance on the scene and Ishiro changed targets as rapidly as the hawk dives from the air and strikes on its prey. Executing a carefully measured step a few yards back and to the side, he adjusted himself perfectly to compensate for the change in angle and position of the newly acquired target on the tree. With a flick of his wrist the powerbow was now horizontally aligned to the gaunt man's location and an arrow flew, like a gust of the wind towards him in blinding speed, swirling with a sharp sound through branches and leaves, making crystal clear Ishiro's message that this caravan was protected and should be left alone.

OOC
Attack roll: [roll0]
14 successes. In case it hits, damage is 10L before adding any potential extra successes and before subtracting the target's soak.

[aetherialDawn]

(Tick 5)
Arete sees a gaunt figure rise above the treetops. He can hardly fail to, with the presence of Soulsteel putting a leaden weight upon the world where it appears.
But that is not, just now, his concern. If these undead will not pay attention to attacks, perhaps they will pay attention to disruption. Arete closes swiftly with a clump of zombies attempting to steal these innocent people. His blade becomes three swift arcs of bronze, one to meet each once-dead and soon twice-dead foe. If they are capable of hope, they have none, moving like slugs to Arete's sight and worth no more than that to his blade.


Flurry of three attacks, one per zombie, benefiting from the already-activated Panoptic Fusion Discipline for +3 Aim dice each. If they hit, they deal extra successes+6L damage
I believe it is speed 4, DV -3 as a whole.

Stunt bonuses, if available, go to the damage of the first attack that hits.
Attack One, 16 dice [roll0] 8 Successes
Attack Two, 15 dice [roll1] 6 Successes
Attack Three, 14 dice [roll2] 10 Successes

Panoptic Fusion Discipline
All attacks benefit from +3 Aim dice
+1 to all DVs vs. physical attacks I'm aware of

Willpower10/10
Personal 15/19
Peripheral 31/41
Anima 0

Health:
-0 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
-X [ ]
Dying [ ][ ][ ][ ]

(Tick 6)
Alexia, at first, simply watches her teacher charging towards the dead. And then she sees something amazing - the giant corpse-beast not only finds its very bone cracked by mere wood, but it stumbles from the incredible force brought to bear. Who is that man?
Once she's recovered her composure, she puts attention to aiming, selecting her target calmly from those nearest Arete, waiting for one to turn and strike at him - and so render itself an easy target for her. Nevertheless, some of her attention is also split towards awe for her fellow archer, if she even deserves to be placed in a rank with him.

Aim action! Woo.

Willpower 6/6
Accessible 5/7
Non-Accessible 13/13

Health:
-0 [ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
-X [ ]
Dying [ ][ ][ ][ ]

[moritheil]

Flashing White Teeth notes the appearance of the enemy archer and is silently impressed by the sudden exchange of fire even as he charges into the fray. Rushing to aid the beleaguered travelers, he closes swiftly with the walking dead. As he approaches their ranks, he leaps into the air. Rising, he pushes off a boulder by the roadside - sandals clicking on stone - reverses direction, and lands amidst the zombies in a blur of flashing fists and feet.

OOC Kick/punch/punch, accuracy: 10 (5 MA 5 dodge)-3, 11-4, 11-5.

Stunt dice?
I'm not sure, as the book says if you interact with scenery you get 2 dice, but Volt told us to assume 1 die. I'll roll with 2 dice and if Volt says it's only 1 die then he can ignore the final die.

Kick: [roll0] 7B.
Punch: [roll1] 3B
Punch: [roll2] 3B

I have no idea how much soak zombies have. Minimum damage is 3, so:
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

The flurry is speed 5 and applies a -3 DV penalty to Teeth. No charms were used, and Teeth will probably use Shadow Over Water to negate the penalties if the surviving zombies counterattack.

[Arcainia]

(tick 8)
Scarlet Watches a moment as a few other people rush in to aid those taken by the dead, smiling she follows in suite.

((OOC :See next thread due to wrong # of rolls for attack))

[Arcainia]

OOC:

no stunt this time.

Flurry:[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Damage: 6 lethal +success's - soak?

[Arcainia]

OOC:
Wits (4) + Resistence (2) [roll0] Thats 4 Success's I beleive?

[moritheil]

OOC: Wits [roll0]

[Volthawk]

Arete slices through the zombies, cleaving two in half and leaving the last one seriously injured, limping as it attempts to continue to drag its target. Teeth's attacks aren't as effective, as although he connects with some force, the zombies don't appear very inconvenienced by the attacks. Scarlet's slashes seem to again not have much effect on the zombies despite biting into their rotting flesh, apart from one that seems to have been inured quite a bit by the slice.

The treetop archer seems to focus, and the air around him warps a little, before he staggers as Ishiro's arrow hits him, although he regains his footing, and a cloak he was wearing falling into the tree to reveal a set of soulsteel armour. Despite the injury he has taken, he continues to focus, and the air around erupts in a blinding, brilliant white corona, making it incredibly hard to look at the archer and blinding Ishiro and Ygkxi, as well as many of the assorted people around.


Taco, I said the JB started at Tick 6, and due to your botch, ended at tick 12 (6 ticks later). Feel free to type up your entrance.

Right, the ghostblood's Charm means you are blinded for 15-5*successes ticks (that's the Wits+Resistance roll). However, with the rolls you guys got, only Ishiro (10 ticks, so ending at tick 16) and Ygkxi (5 ticks, so ending at tick 11) are blinded. Also, until tick 11, all attacks against the ghostblood act as if you are blinded. For ease, blindness gives a -4 penalty to attacks and other tasks that require vision, and makes attacks past 100 yards impossible.

Oh yeah, and I noticed the note below the zombie statblock (missed it last update). Everyone fighting in close combat with the zombies roll Stamina+Resistance, difficulty 2, or take a -2 penalty to die pools.

Stunts:
Arete: 1-die, gain 2 motes
Ishiro: 2-die, gain 4 motes or 1 WP
Teeth: 2-die, gain 4 motes or 1 WP

JB order (events that occur on a tick are in italics):
Tick 9: Arete, Alexia
Tick 10: Scarlet
Tick 11: Ghostblood, Teeth, Ygkxi's blindness fades
Tick 12: Ishiro (blinded), Taco's Zenith
Tick 13:
Tick 14:
Tick 15:
Tick 16: Ishiro's blindness fades

[aetherialDawn]

Arete frowns. Clearly, whoever ordered these zombies is very intent, or totally unconcerned for them. He feels... Insulted, though who has ordered them he does not yet know. He gestures at the heavily-wounded zombie, and Alexia understands, loosing her arrow to fell it as he moves on. It travels swiftly, buoyed by neither wind nor essence but only her skill; a paragon of mortal archery flying to tear through the rotting torso of the abominable dead.

Her master, however, has moved on. The abomination is threatening, but the zombies are carrying off people now. And so he gives chase, his essence-enhanced perceptions letting him spot Alexia readying another arrow. His sword flashes out, and a zombie finds itself bereft of legs. Before it can fall, Alexia's arrow arrives, slicing sharply into its unholy ribcage to cut flesh and notch bone.

Arete arrives at the next zombie, making a short leap and bringing his sword down in a diagonal cut across the back. He continues on, however, using the momentum to crash into a third walking corpse shield first - and blade second, plunging through and downwards so that it cannot pierce too far and harm the mortal victim.

Arete (Tick 9)
Speed 4, DV -3 Next Tick: 13
You know, I've been assuming that zombies are slow enough and attacked together, making it easy enough for Arete to catch up to them. If I should stop that, just let me know. It's what I have a bow and Dawn King's Strife for!

A flurry of three attacks against three zombies, once more. Although there's more movement involved this time between attacks. I assume they aren't just clumping up in threes for me, however slow they are, after all.
Each attack uses the same base dice pool of 16+3 aim dice. Any stunt dice go to accuracy for the last attack. They each deal extra successes+5L damage. (I was wrong in the previous post, it's not +6L.)
The shield bash is not an attack.

Zombie one! [roll0]
Zombie two! [roll1]
Zombie three! [roll2]

Panoptic Fusion Discipline
All attacks benefit from +3 Aim dice
+1 to all DVs vs. physical attacks I'm aware of

Willpower 10/10
Personal 17/19
Peripheral 31/41
Anima 0

Health:
-0 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
-X [ ]
Dying [ ][ ][ ][ ]
Alexia (Tick 9)
Speed 6, DV -2 Next Tick: 15
Making a flurry of two attacks, both using Broadhead Arrows for 6L+extra successes damage in total on each shot.

Any stunt dice go to the accuracy of her second attack.
Versus wounded zombie (3 ticks of aiming + both specialties)
[roll3]
Versus the zombie Arete gets on his run-by (Into Melee specialty)
[roll4]

Willpower 6/6
Accessible 5/7
Non-Accessible 13/13

Health:
-0 [ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
-X [ ]
Dying [ ][ ][ ] - I included an extra Dying level by accident for her in the previous action. She didn't miraculously lose a dot of Stamina or anything.

[Volthawk]

The wounded zombie drops its mortal as the arrow thuds into it, the force knocking it down where it lies there, unmoving.

Arete moves through the zombies, slicing and bashing. The lone zombie that had so far not been engaged suddenly finds itself legless with an arrow through its chest, and it lies on the floor, releasing its mortal. Scarlet finds one of the zombies seriously wounded finished off by Arete's slice, and Teeth finds one of the zombies that hadn't seemed to have been affected by his punches much on the floor, with Arete standing on top of it, his sword buried in it.


Stunts:
Arete: 2-die, gain 4 motes or 1 WP

JB order (events that occur on a tick are in italics):
Tick 10: Scarlet
Tick 11: Ghostblood, Teeth, Ygkxi's blindness fades
Tick 12: Ishiro (blinded), Taco's Zenith
Tick 13: Arete
Tick 14:
Tick 15: Alexia
Tick 16: Ishiro's blindness fades

[Kazyan]

Ygkxi is too busy looking at her friend getting the shiny weaponry out to react in time to what has to be one of the brightest lights on the ground of Creation. It sears her retinas, and she pushes down the urge to yelp in pain, instead settling for pressing her hands tightly over her eyes. She likes shiny, but that's too shiny.

She hears two of her friends voice the word "-Light!-", but she isn't about to reprimand them for profanity. Still not having much of an idea what is going on, Ygkxi stumbles back and bend over. With her eyes temporarily not working, she pays extra attention to her hearing. The swings of weaponry, people recoiling from the flash of light, a bird cawing.

Overhead, her crow soars downwards, too fast. She feels, in her own body, her familiar spiral down through the air. Alarmed, Ygkxi stands to go run over to wherever she thinks Hciqc might land when it completes its fall, probably knocking into several people along the way.

OOC:
Sharing one sense with the familiar (touch). Since this isn't combat, the ticks are abstract.

[moritheil]

"Talk to me," Teeth says, though his eyes do not leave the action. "The big one next, or that exalted fighter?" Centering himself, he strikes a single blow at a nearby zombie, just as it slows to drag a prisoner over a muddy patch.


OOC: Spent 3m, regained 4m: full
Motes: 19 personal 41 peripheral (-6 committed to artifacts)

Stamina: [roll0]

Punch [roll1]
Damage 3B+extra attack successes

Speed 5

[Arcainia]

"Wha..?" *Blinks a few times rapidly* "What was that Light?!" Scarlet mumbles.
Suddenly her Caste mark shines out from the middle of her forehead, right through her hat as she looks around trying to figure out where it came from.

OOC:Activating Sorcerer's Burning Chakra Charm (1m)
Which sets my Caste mark Shining bright.

Perception + Awareness: 3d10

[Arcainia]

OOC:the Roller Hates me
Perception + Awareness to Find the culprit and get the basic information from the sight. [roll0]

[Calimos]

Ishiro is so deeply concentrated to the figure of the soulsteel bow - wielding archer, that when the sudden, bright, eye-hurting, light erupts before him, does not manage to avert his eyes in time, a bright after-image burning incadescent in his retinas, alongside a confusion that seeks throw him off.

Instinctively, Ishiro closes briefly his eyes, watering them with tears to alleviate the burning sensation, lowers himself a bit, assuring a better chance for balance, slightly tilts forward, and then with unerring precision retraces his last steps, moving backwards with a perfectly executed cartwheel, assuming once again his initial position. He lets air and sound guide him, his mind racing through all possible angles and trajectories, based on the archer's movement and previously occupied position on the tree, pinpointing the possible courses of action and therefore extrapolating the most likely course of action, taking into consideration his own experience as an archer and its contribution on the mentality of a ranged combatant. Heartseeker assumes a slightly tilted to the left position, the string drawn back with one breath and an arrow is let loose upon a - so far worthy, yet already wounded - opponent.

Attack: Speed 6. Suffering from -4 external penalty due to blindness (as errata'ed in Scroll of Errata pg.8, due to conflict from Corebook description).
Potential Stunt die are to be taken care of by Volt, separately, at his discretion.

[roll0]

2 successes before stunt dice. Not going to hit :smalltongue: Goes along perfectly with in-character blindness. :smallwink:

[aetherialDawn]

Arete pulls forth his sword from the once-again dead foe, looking upon its face for a moment. Some sort of peace has been returned to it, at least.
His mind races as he considers the question the unarmed man has placed on him... He was lucky enough to be focused on zombies rather than the archer when the light began, but that doesn't help him look into the blinding light now. There may be zombies already in the woods, but they shouldn't be difficult to track if they're pursued swiftly.
"The large one. Until we can look at that archer, fighting him will be difficult."

[Tacolicious]

Zeke curses himself as he peers at the melee from the trees. His head was still groggy, possibly from the wineskin he had had for dinner last night. He gives his arm a shake and his sling Mr Blue had given him slides from his harm and deftly lands in his hands.

Zeke steps from the bush, kicking the ground as he steps out. Two perfect smooth stones leap into the air, and he grabs each one indvidually in a small cartwheel motion and flings them at the archer in the trees


Derp by me on the join battle, one of my charms gives me a single sux, and lets me reflexively draw a thrown weapong

Two sling attacks, both supplimented with 5 die from first thrown excellency
First [roll0] 9 sux
Second [roll1] 10 sux
Base damage 7L
10 motes from personal
Speed 3 due to flashing draw mastery

Personal: 9/19
Peripheral: 34/40
Overdrive: 0/10
WP: 10/10
Anima: 0/16

[Arcainia]

While looking for the culprit of the flash of light and finding out more information, scarlet slash's at the undead that appears to have tentacles.

OOC:
INT+OCCULT+Specialty: 4+5+1: [roll0]

Speed: 4
Flurry: Atk1: [roll1] 3 successes
Atk2: [roll2] 2 successes
Atk3: [roll3] 1 success

Damage: 2+4L=6

[Volthawk]

Although the archer is still too bright to properly look at, Scarlet's essence sight still functions, telling her that he is the source of the corona of light, and also that is the work of one of the Arcanoi - ghost charms.

However, she is less successful with the tentacled abomination. Each time she slashes, she finds a mass of spinal cord tentacles blocking her, linking together to form a shield of sorts.

Teeth's punch makes the zombie drop the mortal it was carrying, and it then stands still for a moment, before falling into the puddle, unmoving.

The light around the archer fades, although Ishiro is still blinded by the initial flash, but he still does not attack. Scarlet can see through her Essence Sight that he is using more Essence, and then becomes incorporeal, although he is still visible to everyone.

Despite his blindness, Ishiro's arrow flies true, heading towards the archer at a point where it should do serious harm. However, it doesn't actually hit, as it goes through the archer - not that Ishiro can currently tell that. Likewise, Zeke's stone fly through their intended target, hitting Ishiro's arrow as they go through him.

Now, the necrotech abomination, having no bodies to take, turns to both self-defence and obtaining new bodies. A arm consisting of a mass of twisting spine-tentacles whips towards Scarlet, aiming to grab hold of her.


Tentacles joins battle at Tick 10, finishing at Tick 12.
On that tick, he attempts to attack Scarlet; attack [roll0] - 8 successes, damage +4B. Remember you have a penalty to your DVs due to your attacks.
If he hits, he engages a clinch, but just uses the Hold action. That makes Scarlet's next action Inactive, but she doesn't take any extra damage.

Oh, quick note on the zombie front. There's only two of them left - one is seriously injured, the other is barely damaged.

Stunts:
Ishiro - 2 die

JB order:
Tick 13: Arete
Tick 14: Scarlet, Zeke
Tick 15: Alexia
Tick 16: Tentacles
Tick 17: Archer
Tick 18: Ishiro (not blinded),

[Calimos]

Blinking repeatedly to clean his eyes, Ishiro feels gradually his sight returning to its full function. He surveys the surroundings once more, seeing the other archer still standing and the undead abomination fighting with the various people who hurried to defend the caravan, like himself.

Quick, as the rays of Sun piercing the veil of darkness, he moves sideways, in an effort to distance himself from the undead monstrosity and find the appropriate angle for the most opportune shot against the enemy archer, taking into consideration, his current position, the speed and direction of the wind, the weight of his perfectly crafted arrows and the distance between him and the elevated station of the opponent. For a moment he holds his breath and then he lets loose the string of Heartseeker, exhaling, as if attempting to coordinate fully his body with the motion of the arrow and lend to it even the strength of his own breath.

Attack: Speed 6.

[roll0] 17 successes.

Damage is 10L before extra successes.

[aetherialDawn]

Noticing that two of the simpler undead still dare stand, Arete draws his bow as he dashes towards the bone-encrusted abomination - which leaps into his hands rather than betray its master's need for range - and fires two arrows. The arrows, as well, seem to come to his hands of their own volition, each presenting itself even as the Dawn begins to reach back, rather than forcing him to actually pull them forth.

With two arrows sent swiftly, guided by the winds of Creation, which know their golden defender and aid him, Arete turns towards the last foe he is rushing towards, sword again in his hand as his bow returns to his back from a job well done. He does not glance back to see his arrows hit, for there is no doubt that they have cut down each shambling foe, letting them flatten the grass and rest in peace.

He can't help but give a slight, grim smile. This, the most terrible of the zombies, has made what seems to be a mistake, embroiling itself in attempting to hold someone. It won't last long enough to harm her, though, for in so doing it makes its weaknesses clear as day for Arete's enhanced comprehension to see. His blade, shining despite the rotting corpses he's been destroying, rushes for flesh between the bony protection, seeking to bite deep and sever the dark forces that hold this monster-that-should-not-be together. He strikes, blade's hilt slamming into the monster's side. "Die-" And once more, pulling his blade forth and striking in a new place, once again stabbing fully, motes of essence flowing outwards to let him pull his blade forth for a final blow... "-once-" ...which comes as a brutal uppercut, making effort to cleave this thing in two. "-more!"

(Tick 13)
This action is Speed 6 (Longbow)/DV -5 (Five attacks)
(My Parry DV is currently 4, +1 vs. melee. My Dodge DV is 0, +1 vs. melee.)
Using Elegant Dance of Bow and Blade twice, once to switch to longbow and once to switch back to sword. This means that I must spend one mote on it, as only the first switch each action is free.
I am also adding successes with the first Melee excellency, as noted after each dice pool. Thanks to Dawn King's Strife, I can use my melee excellency on ranged attacks - Broadhead arrows are just tiny spears, after all.
Panoptic Fusion Discipline means that I get three aim dice on each action. Doesn't impact the dice cap and costs no motes.
Charm Activation: Second Melee Excellency (through Dawn King's Strife)

Longbow 1 (Vs. barely damaged zombie) [roll0] +2 successes (Total: 3)
Longbow 2 (Vs. seriously injured zombie) [roll1] +2 successes (Total: 4)
Sword 1 [roll2] +1 successes (Total: 9)
Sword 2 [roll3] +1 successes (Total: 6)
Sword 3 [roll4] +1 success+1 success (Total: 5)
Remember that Onslaught penalties apply to the sword blows, and that without magic or a stunt, a defender trying to clinch someone can't parry or dodge! :smallbiggrin:
(Longbow damage is 5L+extra successes, Sword damage is also 5L+extra successes)

This results in spending 14 of my 15 free personal motes. Perhaps someone or something could attack me, forcing me to use peripheral motes to defend, since I've lowered my defenses so far, thus pushing my anima into the 1-3 range. Eh, eh?
Just for fun, I'm spending a willpower point to add an extra success on that last sword blow.

Panoptic Fusion Discipline
All attacks benefit from +3 Aim dice
+1 to all DVs vs. physical attacks I'm aware of

Willpower 9/10
Personal 1/19 *the previous 17 was in error, 4m are committed to Panoptic Fusion Discipline and its wonderful, wonderful aim dice.
Peripheral 31/41
Anima 0

Health:
-0 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
-X [ ]
Dying [ ][ ][ ][ ]

[moritheil]

"Very well."

The exalted move swiftly, so swiftly that even as the brief exchange of words takes place, corpses fall in a rapidly clearing circle. Flashing White Teeth shakes fragments of dead skin and bone from his hands, letting the pale flakes drift to the ground. As the swordsman and archer duo dispatch the remaining zombies, he approaches the necrotech abomination, examining it for points of connection between its disparate bodies and places where its tendrils join to flesh. Selecting two points where the seams look weak, he whips his arms across in slashing, knife-hand motions.

OOC: Starting at turn 16, Aim, 1 tick. Then, a speed 5 flurry of two attacks. I'm assuming Aim only grants its benefit to the first attack of the flurry.
[roll0]
[roll1]

Abort if the abomination drops.

[aetherialDawn]

(Alexia)

Breathing slowly and carefully, Alexia can't help being a little shaken by the skill of the archer beside her. He just can't be so good. Even blinded by that horrifying light, she's certain that his arrow passed straight through the archer in the center of it. There's no wound visible, but she just barely caught it.

She takes careful aim at the black-armored archer, readying her arrow with care. She never did take to lessons in losing gracefully, and is determined to fire at least one arrow that might impress the man.

(Tick 15->18)
Alexia is Aiming for three ticks. COINCIDENTALLY this means her arrow and Ishiro's will fire at the same time! Who will do better? Hint: Probably the Solar. If Ishiro aims or otherwise delays, Alexia will actually keep aiming to keep pace.
Just in case, she's also using Dynamic Aiming Strategy - Her DV doesn't take penalties for Aiming, and she gets +1 to DV versus ranged attacks, making her total Dodge DV 6 until she's fired.

[Tacolicious]

Zeke stares at the archer in the trees as his stones pass through him. Some of the men from the party have stepped up and are protecting each other well enough. That archer must be caught, to find out what his orders well and who sent him.

Zeke scoops up a stone as he runs towards the fray flinging it into the air and whirling it around in his sling and launches the pellet at the archer.

One attack, with a move action towards the main fray.

Thrown excellency adding 8 dice

[roll0] 14 sux

Speed 5

base dmg 7L before sux's
Personal: 1/19
Peripheral: 34/40
Overdrive: 0/10
WP: 10/10
Anima: 0/16

[Volthawk]

Although both of Arete's arrows hit their intended target, they remain standing, both arrows seeming to impact them only slightly, where they then stagger off.

He has a little more luck with the abomination, it putting up little defence due to it being occupied with Scarlet. However, it still has the thick armour, and that helps it survive Arete's onslaught, although it does obviously take damage, getting closer and closer to the point of nonfunctionality. However, Teeth's own barrage brings it down as it retreated, his strikes making the spine-tentacle arms fall apart, followed by the rest of it.

Zeke and Ishiro have less luck with their own target. Once again, the various projectiles go through his incorporeal form. However, the archer doesn't retaliate, instead retreating through the trees, moving through them like they didn't exist.

Stunts:
Arete: 2-dot
Teeth: 1-dot
Ishiro: 1-dot

JB order:
Tick 18: Alexia
Tick 19: Arete, Zeke, Scarlet
Tick 20: Archer (in forest)
Tick 21: Teeth
Tick 22:
Tick 23:
Tick 24: Ishiro

[aetherialDawn]

Alexia lets fly her arrow, watching it soar and... pierce nothing, where the archer clearly is. Whatever he's done, he's beyond her mortal reach now. She waves to Arete briefly, and walks back to rejoin the caravan of travelers. She's no doctor, but Lance can surely use some steady hands to aid with any help they might need, from undead-inflicted wounds or harm stemming from panic.

(Tick 18)
Not even rolling. If I were to get around the immaterial/material restriction - shooting the tree he's on to trigger falling damage is all I can think of and that might not work - then it would be rather silly for the mortal to think of it first, no?
Speed 6/DV -1 for a single arrow, but fundamentally leaving the battle.

Arete nods to Teeth, smiling faintly. "Good work, there." He's noticed the surpassing skill, and wondered if this man might be Enlightened... Certainly, the strikes of a normal martial artist would have been unlikely to finish off such an abomination. Those zombies must simply have been lucky to survive such blows beforehand. He turns to Scarlet, though he's already drawing his bow again. "Lady, are you alright?" Three arrows, one for each zombie and a third for whichever has the misfortune to look more whole. As opposed to the lightning-snap of his bow before, these arrows are a little calmer, more normal.

(Tick 19)
Just a flurry of longbow/longbow/longbow. Speed 6/DV -3.

[roll0] 7 successes. Good dice.
[roll1] 4 successes.
[roll2] 3 successes.

Panoptic Fusion Discipline
All attacks benefit from +3 Aim dice
+1 to all DVs vs. physical attacks I'm aware of

Willpower 10/10
Personal 1/19
Peripheral 31/41
Anima 0

Health:
-0 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
-X [ ]
Dying [ ][ ][ ][ ]

[Tacolicious]

'OH NO YOU DON'T!!' Zeke yells as the archer fades away. Spotting the warrior firing his arrows, Zeke runs forwards. One. He skips off the first zombie. Two. The second step comes off the small of back of the next one. Three. Zeke launches himself off the head of the third, landing in a roll and and drawing his dagger. He eyes where the dark archer disappeared and sprints off into the forest. The dead men springboards collapse to the ground behind him, sunlight pouring from thier eyes.


A jump (14 yards) followed by a dash action (16 yards), along with a miscellaneous action to draw his weapon
This tick 30 yards, followed by 16 yards per tick for two more ticks.
-4 DV

3 motes to burn the bodies of the zombies as Zeke leaps off them

Do I need to make any awareness or survival rolls to try and follow him?

Speed 5

Personal: 0/19
Peripheral: 32/40
Overdrive: 0/10
WP: 10/10
Anima: 2/16

[Volthawk]

The zombies all fall to Arete's bow, before promptly disintegrating with the holy light of the Unconquered Sun. And with that, the road is quiet again, all the undead having been destroyed. Luckily, there appears to have been no casualties, a few people having been roughed up a little when they were grabbed by the undead. But yet the Dragon-Blooded still haven't appeared, in fact having apparently vanished from the scene.

Zeke chases the ghostblood only a short while, as he stops in a short while, at the edge of a sharp rocky decline. The forest shouldn't naturally end here, but it did, the vegetation at the bottom crushed under the mass of the immense construction he sees before him, squatting down in the valley of sorts, the tall trees of the forest and the natural low ground having mostly concealed it apart from the pillars of ash and smoke that had been erupting out of smokestacks on the side of the construct. It was tall, very tall, and as wide as that, although due to the distance and high ground Zeke found it hard to tell exactly, especially because thick beams of iron held it up even higher, meaning despite it being situated lower down the top was almost as high up as Zeke. Four great claws forged of bone and iron extrude out of the bottom, and the whole thing is constructed out of bone and iron, with cables made of spines and large pipes and smokestacks made out of blackened iron. Down below, more undead, again a large majority of zombies but also some of the spine-tentacle abominations and a few other necrotech creations, herd the mortals they had rounded up and captured to the machine, its claws shovelling them up, pulling them into the bottom of it. Standing on either side of it are two figures clad in armour made of the usual nonmagical materials for Abyssals and the Underworld - bone and iron, armed with some kind of ranged weapon made of bone, while in front of the machine a figure in a much larger imposing bone exoskeleton, towering over to everything around it other than the machine, watches over the operation. Some of the mortals aren't fed to the machine, however, instead going into two large soulsteel cauldrons, with strange crystals along the edge. Further down the valley, corpses line tents, with various examples of necrotech being examined and worked on, a few more people in the same armour as the two standing beside the machine patrol. This was something big, clearly not simply one Abyssal striking out.

Despite all this, the ghostblood turns around, putting his hands up, his bow on the ground. Despite the fact that he's unarmed in front of one of those that defeated all of the undead, he's smiling.


No need for a roll to follow, no.

Zombies are dead, and the ghost-blood has surrendered. Combat time is now over for now. Now you have a bigger situation on your hands.

8 XP all around!

[moritheil]

Flashing White Teeth bows deeply to Arete. "And that was truly inspiring work with the sword and bow. I am known as Flashing White Teeth. It is my honor to have fought beside you." He delivers these words with no trace of irony, sincerely impressed by the efficient way in which the superhuman soldier put down the zombies.

Teeth follows the soldier to where Scarlet pushes herself up off the ground and wriggles out of the tendrils. He offers no help, instead favoring her with a bow as well. "I am called Flashing White Teeth. You were quite good with the sword there, my lady. I have been thinking - a fair number of us seem to have some training. I suppose in these troubled times, a traveler must be able to look after himself - or herself." He pauses, glancing between Arete and Scarlet for a reaction.

[aetherialDawn]

Arete nods firmly. He does not need to glance around the battlefield to make sure none of the zombies are rising again, but he does anyway, and then bows in return, sheathing sword and and unclasping shield.
"And certainly I thank you, sir. It was an honor to see you fight, and a pleasure to aid. Though I pride myself on my blade-prowess, I think you surpass me in skill with the hand itself, and it fills me with joy to know there are others in the world perfecting their arts."

He watches Scarlet as she, he assumes, rises. With no serious wounds, Arete is content to let her be with a nod. The swordmaster lets his cloak once more fall around him, and retrieves his dropped pack. From a wrapped package now just sticking out, there is a glint of gold, reflecting the sun's light briefly towards Flashing White Teeth.
It is most certainly intentional, a silent statement that one in tune with the sun might feel; I follow the Sun, do you?
"It seems that the Terrestrial Princes with us have left. Strange. I had expected to fight alongside them as well. I saw at least one other person join us, but he seems to have chased the archer."

Valor fights Temperance briefly... on the one hand, to allow such a foe to leave is abhorrent. But being pulled away by a single foe leaves the remaining travelers vulnerable...
Temperance triumphs, buoyed by Compassion. Arete turns towards the bulk of the travelers. "Good lady, if you can walk, we might return to the main caravan. I saw no traveler carried off into the woods, despite the attempt on you."

[Kazyan]

At some point, Ygkxi catches the crow in her soft hands. She smiles and holds Hciqc close, and it caws in approval. With a sigh of relief, she crouches down and gently strokes the bird.

Sounds of conversation from the site of battle reach her ears. Ygkxi has difficulty with their long sentences and speech patterns, but deduces that they're congratulating each other. She stands and heads off towards them, curious and confused. The battle sounds didn't take even half a minute--way too fast for her to comprehend. She can only hope that everyone realizes that the dead things only want to help?

Of course, when she squirms her way back to the front of the travelers, she smells the decay and death essence filtering into the air, and as soon as the last far people move, the sight of freshly re-slain dead things greets her. Ygkxi stares at one for a moment, then at the—

Ygkxi blushes as she looks over the unarmed man. Wow. Her eyes traced over the shape of his shoulders, that handsome face, and not mention his cute...she regathers her self-control and looks away, distracting herself by idly fixing Hciqc's feathers.

[moritheil]

Flashing White Teeth smiles, pleased to have the respect of a superior warrior. He blinks briefly at seeing some detail in the scene - or perhaps it is merely the dust in his eyes.

"That attacker was almost certainly not a normal man, though I suppose, neither was his pursuer. I am glad that we could chase him off - do I understand correctly that you are acquainted with those fine archers? I wonder if the hunter might need our assistance in pursuit, though perhaps we should get all these people to some measure of safety first."

Teeth accompanies the others back closer to his earlier position in the column, talking as they walk. The charred spots where Zeke burned the corpses lie nearby, a dark patch on the scraggly grass that grows by the road. Out of the corner of his eye he notices a group of barbarians milling about, one of whom seems to be uncommonly attractive. His eyes linger on her for just a second before being drawn to a flash of light from a package another barbarian appears to be handling with reverence.

[Calimos]

Ishiro, lowered his bow and proceeded to join the rest of the people that rushed to the defence of the caravan, never leaving from his sight, the grinning archer that seemed to stand in a form of surrender.

[aetherialDawn]

Arete looks at all the people - so strange, their skills... More than seemed likely for the unenlightened.

But who is the one who taught them?

He watches the allied archer (not Alexia but another, even greater) follow the enemy archer into the woods... And once he's spent a short time holding up his shield and sword, ensuring the frightened men and women of the caravan are aware of victory - and passing on whatever brief authority his part in it gives to Lance - the Dawn follows his Valor at last, leaving a clearer path for those who might still follow...

This will be a WONDERFUL opportunity to find out we're all Solars. It is my OOC plea that you find a reason to follow within a few IC minutes, so that we can all arrive before too much time passes! It will help move the story along, it looks like.
Do note that it doesn't have to be quick, especially since Arete is specifically leaving a 'clearer path' in case one wants to delay and pursue other things.
(Like meeting pretty Solars.)

Of course, if you have other plans, then by all means, implement them! This is a request - it's not like I could make demands even if I wanted to :smallbiggrin:

[Kazyan]

After the Qaradoccians had regained their sight and complained to each other about that, one of them gets back to withdrawing Ygkxi's weaponry. He holds it towards her. Ygkxi gently raises Hciqc into the air, and the crow flies upwards. Looking towards the site of the battle, she takes the orichalcum smashfists in her arms. She appears absent-minded as she does this, but it's quite the opposite case: instead of thinking too much to pay attention, Ygkxi is so aware that she doesn't think about why she has the weapons out in the first place.

She watches the man with the sword and shield advance into the trees. With a blank look on her face, Ygkxi stands for a few seconds before an idea crosses her mind: if there are more dead things ahead, it will be bad if he goes to kill them! Alarmed, she hastily jams her hands into the gauntlets, one at a time, and flexes her fingers. Before running off, she looks towards the very pretty man again, and lets her eyes linger.

Once the urge to fangirl feels even a little bit prominent, she averts her eyes. Without a word, she sprints off to chase the warrior, intent on stopping him. Hciqc caws and accelerates his flight to glide ahead of her.

[moritheil]

"How do we know they haven't a second ambush?" Flashing White Teeth yells at Arete's back.

Ygkxi, that attractive barbarian, runs past, gauntlets glittering gold, and Teeth comes to a decision. Leaving the red-haired swordswoman and warlike tribesmen to secure the remaining travelers, he hurries into the woods after the others.

OOC: Temperance 2, making decisions for the very best of reasons.

[aetherialDawn]

Arete glances back for a moment, without missing a step, but quickly turns his head forward again. Several people following him, it seems - including one he had not expected. And upon seeing the gold, he instantly focuses his essence, his heightened sight confirming the gleam. He knows that metal, and it looks like he won't need to slow down to protect the unexpected woman after all. Sol be praised, it looks like there's friends to be had.

Oh, right. There's a question to answer.

"I don't! I'll just pay attention!" His eyes have never missed a bandit's ambush since the day the sun Shined upon him fully, so he's not overly worried.

[Volthawk]

As the others rush to where Zeke and the ghost-blood stand, seeing the operation in the valley below, the ghost-blood remains in the same position.

"So...are you people going to accept the surrender or just gawk at what's going on down there?"

[moritheil]

Arriving at the forest's edge, Flashing White Teeth takes in the giant machine and the grinning archer. Reassured by his charm that there are no hidden enemies in the immediate vicinity, he steps out of the bushes, walking steadily towards the ghost-blooded. Teeth is not reassured by the man being disarmed, knowing all too well the myriad ways to kill or maim a man that do not require a weapon.

"I take your surrender to mean that you will antagonize us no further, and are offering to answer our questions truthfully in return for our pledge to not harm you after you attacked us. Yes?"

[Volthawk]

The ghostblood nods.

"Sure. Happy to help where I can. Maybe this'll get the message across..."

[moritheil]

Flashing White Teeth pauses briefly to let any of his allies present interject. Seeing that none do, he extends his hand to the ghostblood. "Then we have an agreement."

Brilliant white-gold runes explode into being around the two, Old Realm characters signifying the pact. They flare brightly and then fade into nonexistence, a glowing disc on Teeth's forehead the only remaining evidence of their passing.

Teeth turns to the ghoul, and smiles. "What is your name?"

OOC: 5m personal, 5m peripheral. Beacon activated! Let me know if I didn't do that right.

[aetherialDawn]

Arete's eyes widen slightly. The characters of the oath are illegible to him, but the sunlight - and the Eclipse symbol that remains - are both recognizable as marks of the Sun.

He immediately pulls out his sword and shield - not the fragile things of mortal craft, but the Orichalcum gifts of the Sun himself - and sets both into the ground, point first for his blade and bottom first for his shield.
He flares his own caste mark to the brilliance of resplendent Dawn, tongues of golden flame licking upwards around his silhouette to ignite it on his brow.

"My name is Arete, and I would be honored to serve hand in hand with you. Did you, too, receive the vision?"
He doesn't particularly mind interrupting the questioning. This is, briefly, more important... In the long term, he can feel the sunlight held in his soul yearning to burn every inch of the blasphemous Underworld nightmare until not a splinter is left.

Just dropping 1m to light up my caste mark. Personal mote, actually. Once I decide the mark goes out, it goes out. (Rules on p. 90 of the core, I finally found them.)

Panoptic Fusion Discipline
All attacks benefit from +3 Aim dice
+1 to all DVs vs. physical attacks I'm aware of

Willpower 10/10
Personal 0/19
Peripheral 31/41
Anima 0

Health:
-0 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
-X [ ]
Dying [ ][ ][ ][ ]

[Calimos]

Ishiro watches carefully, still taken aback by the grisly spectacle in the valley before them, the stench of death pervading his nostrils, as the ghostblooded archer agrees to help them. Then suddenly, one of the caravan companions goes forth and the pure light of the Unconquered Sun radiates forth, clearly marking the individual as a Chosen of Sol Invictus and a returned God King of ages past, or as it is widely known an Anathema to the forces of the Realm.

Then a second man, a warrior who stood valiantly at the forefront of the previous fight steps forth, laying down weapons forged of precious materials, and even more, weapons forged from orichalcum, just like his own powerbow. The light of the dawning sun is upon his forehead as he stands up and Ishiro starts to think that it is no coincidence that has brought all those powerful individuals together in that remote area of Creation, during those troubled times.

Ishiro steps forth, his powerbow still in his hands, greeting them and letting his caste mark flare upon his forehead, a hollow golden circle symbolizing the Sun that stays hidden during the hours of night.

"It is most heartening to see that among the people of this caravan exist those blessed by the might of the Unconquered Sun. The situation ahead however seems dire and we should try to find out more".

[Volthawk]

The ghostblood looks at the Solars in front of him with some alarm on his face. "You're all...well, no wonder I got here. As for my name, I call myself David. Nice simple name, and I hoped it would throw them off my tracks a little. As I'm here in front of you, you can see that it didn't work."

[Kazyan]

Ygkxi's focus on the people ahead of her never lessened even as they passed her by, and they couldn't get deep enough into the woods for her to lose track. Even so, being not as fast as the others, she would come late to the group. The light from the attractive man's head does not bother her, and neither do those from the others. She keeps running to her destination, the killer, the one who destroyed the traveling people's help.

Thus, she sprints on the final stretch of ground, depending on the great endurance bestowed upon her to move ever faster, heart beating out of time with heaving lungs. As a bolt of cool colors to oppose the warm shades shining from the group ahead, she springs forward--

"-Stop!-" she exhales in the unintelligible barbarian tongue, a fraction of a second before colliding in a mistaken, righteous tackle with the swordsman, her arms set to wrap around him with strength unusual of a woman, as a steel chain flung around a building's support column. She prefers to push him directly into a tree, though anything would be handy.

Not bothering with Dex + Melee or whatever; if Arete wants to dodge/parry, he does.

[moritheil]

Teeth opens his mouth in response to the multiple simultaneous outbursts, and then shuts it as the barbarian woman comes hurtling out of the bushes to collide with Arete. By the quirk of his lips, it could be that he is either biting down a comment or trying hard not to laugh.

"Ah. Yes. We will have much to discuss later," he says, nodding at Arete and giving Ishiro a bow before turning back to David. "Perhaps first we should figure out what we are looking at here."

[aetherialDawn]

Arete notices the charge quickly. Finding the entire leap slowed down enormously to his blessed senses still, he notices first the shine of gold - no, true Orichalcum. He knows the difference at a level below thought, and so does not attempt to move out of the way, simply rolling with the impact and letting his feet leave the ground, 'leaping' along with the strange new woman back towards a tree. He stays ready to duck out of the hold at any moment - these are terrible times, after all. Still, the holy metal is a good omen, and why should he fear to let the blessings of the day continue to accrue, if there is no true malice here? It would take far longer to topple the unholy intrusion of the Underworld alone, after all.

"Hello?"

[Kazyan]

In this position, face-to-face with the warrior, Ygkxi could see his caste mark in the focus of her vision, thus bringing her mind to it as a topic. She shakes him threateningly, to jar him somehow, but it occurs to her that the gold shine means that he is like her, with similar power. The shaking lessens as she looks around, to count the other caste marks. One. Two. Wait, start over. One...two. And then three.

Attacking him meant that she might get hurt too, but she feels the urge to do it anyway, underneath deep fear from being outnumbered--by people with sharp things! She doesn't have any sharp things right now!

Combining the fear with a will hardened by years of monk life, she forces back the urge to hurt people or their feelings. Quietly, she releases the warrior and sits up, still with a determined grimace on her face, but one of slightly less intensity than before.

"...Why did you hurt the dead things?" She asks, mostly to the warrior, but to the group in general as well.

[aetherialDawn]

Arete considers the question. It seemed fairly obvious to him. Creatures of darkness are his foe, by their nature. Were they to seek redemption as his allies, then they would be allies of convenience and brevity only, or seeking to become something no longer dark.

But a more immediate answer seems likely to work.

"They were attempting to kidnap the villagers. I owe the caravan my protection, since I am traveling with it. Besides that, the only one of them who I suspect of being a person instead of a thing is right there." He nods his head in the direction of David.

"Are you, too, blessed by the sun? Or else how did you come by such gauntlets?"

[Kazyan]

'Kidnapping' answered her question enough, but his last three sentences summarily confuse her. Ygkxi stares at him for a moment, her expression softening into a blank, mouth-ajar gaze. She tries to understand him, but he didn't say anything in the easy way, and she can't understand the hard ways. Blessed by the sun? Idly, she picks up her hat, which had fallen off during the tackle, and places it back on her head.

Ygkxi raises a gauntlet, hesitant to say anything again after using her voice. "The sun said where they are," she whispers. She watches the pretty shininess on his head, still aware of everyone else's. The one person without a shiny head does not interest her.

[moritheil]

Turning away from the collision between Solars, Teeth gestures at the unholy machinery. "Explain this, please," he says to the ghoul. "What am I looking at?"

[Volthawk]

"Well, I'm no necromancer or necrotech engineer, but from what that Abyssal said when he hunted me down for this and told me what he wanted me to do, it appears to be a shadowland-creating engine. People go in, and later on a shadowland pops out of it. And that means that they'll have a proper foothold here. They'll be able to respire Essence, move things in from the Underworld more easily, all that stuff."

[aetherialDawn]

Arete takes a few moments to absorb the import of what has just been said. He then steps up immediately and says, "What we are all looking at is something that needs to be destroyed. Creating a shadowland requires death, and brings it. This machine will create a blight upon Creation if allowed to complete its work."

A plan begins to form - to Dawn, in fact, over Arete. "What we need is..." He turns to Ishiro. "I have read legends of those chosen by the Sun - even the Immaculate texts say that their greatest archers could destroy a stone pillar with a single arrow. If I point out some likely points in the structure, could you damage them?"
"I'm afraid that I don't know what skills the rest of us-" how easily it replaces 'you', among fellow Chosen! "-can bring. I myself am a teacher, and also a swordsman. If all goes well, I will be of use only as tactician here. I fear I will also be called as guardian."

He turns to the ghost-blooded informant and... not quite glares. There's no hatred, exactly, but a certain sort of calm drive that could easily overrun a lesser man with righteousness.
"There is but one more question I believe I care for. Can anyone inside it be rescued?"

[moritheil]

After Arete has his questions answered, Teeth peers inquisitively at the ghoul. "You said you were . . . 'hunted down' for this project? Where were you recruited from?"

[Volthawk]

The ghost-blood sighs.

"Well...it was more like they found me again after I got out of the Underworld and tried to get out of all this stuff. I never was recruited for it. See, before those Abyssals turned up, the Deathlords and the Underworld didn't really have any real champions.

Which is where dear old dad comes into it. He was a pretty damn old ghost, and loyal to the Mask of Winters. Now, he figures that ghost-bloods like myself would be good to use as agents out here in Creation, as ghosts don't do so well in Creation as we do. See, for people like me who get their power in the blood, the power of the parent is important, and his age helped ensure that we had some decent power. When we were born, the old ghost and those the Mask allocated to us started raising and training us.

Once I got old enough, though, I got the hell out of there. Thorns happened at that time, and the focus on that meant I could slip away with what I could take. Luckily, I wasn't as closely aligned to the Underworld as my brothers, so I can stay around here and live pretty well. Did some mercenary work, some ghost-hunting stuff due to my talents. Thought I'd gotten away, before the Abyssal came and dragged me back into all this.

As for rescuing people...well, if they've been put in there, they're gone, in body and Essence. So if you want to stop loss of life, you need to stop them from getting in there in the first place. Also, some advice: if you go down there and attack, try to stay away from the thing. I saw a talon of mercenary troops try to deal with it earlier. Shredded them with those claws."

[Calimos]

A plan begins to form - to Dawn, in fact, over Arete. "What we need is..." He turns to Ishiro. [COLOR="Gold"]"I have read legends of those chosen by the Sun - even the Immaculate texts say that their greatest archers could destroy a stone pillar with a single arrow. If I point out some likely points in the structure, could you damage them?"


"Quite possibly", answered Ishiro after thinking about it for some time. "Truth is that I've never tried anything like that before, usually siege weapons are utilized against structures but well, we cannot know unless we try, can we?"

He listens to the story of the ghostblooded before them, with interest, since he never knew much about ghosts and the Underworld, and frowns on their task at hand.

"It isn't going to be easy, but it has to be stopped, that much is certain".

[Kazyan]

Ygkxi listens to the talking without interrupting. Knowing little about Creation, many of the words everyone use carry no meaning to her. Still, she understands the swordsman's mighty form, his ready face, his smarts and talent, and most of all, how right he makes himself look, morally. She realizes that he's making some kind of plan, so she'll let him take charge. Ygkxi is well aware that, in the conventional sense, her mind is not very powerful. In the arena of concentration, she surpasses all but the best mortals, but that doesn't matter here.

Ygkxi taps the swordsman in the small of his back. "What does 'likely points' look like?" She whispers, then looks at the imposing structure, narrows her eyes, and looks back at him. "I will find them." Ygxki stares up at his face for two seconds. Her expression is not quite as righteous as his, nor is she the pinnacle of determination--but she is close enough by even the highest mortal regard, her eyes staring with such great focus that they, for an instant, could be mistaken for glass. But it is not so. There are simply no saccadic movements, the external sign of the slight shifting of ones vision. They are undesirable for her, and thus do not exist here.

[aetherialDawn]

Arete is briefly stymied; he doesn't really know enough about everyone... And unlike the others, he's not even seen what this new, quiet woman can do in combat. The rest can wait, but delay here tears innocent lives away.
Conviction is not something he lacks. But this woman confuses him with his - and perhaps also her own? - lack of understanding.
Well, no time for that. But how to explain what little architectural knowledge he knows? His knowledge of siege weaponry is primarily academic and rote, from reading rather than learning...
He stares off at the machine for a moment, formulating his answer.
"Any part which supports a lot of weight and could be destroyed by us. Especially any moving parts that might control the mechanisms they're using to create a shadowland. Whatever we find, we want to prevent the machine from doing... whatever it's doing. Right?" He glances to David. Trust will need to be earned in time, but he's shown usefulness... and if his story is true, is deserving of some compassion, as well. There's a spark of hope to be had there...